The door opened and a young guy wearing a TransDem Labs Security uniform entered. Walking swiftly to the desk, the agent pulled out and opened the laptop, and wasted no time in reversing every single modification Steve had made. As he finished his work by tuning up the laptop for better performance, Jeff and Mark came in. They recognized the agent from previous encounters, and were instantly on the alert. "Hey, dude, whassup?" Jeff greeted him.
When the agent explained what Steve had tried to do to them, Jeff and Mark were furious, not only at Steve, but at Claire for her carelessness in blabbing about the Chronivac to Steve. They were grateful, however, for the agent's quick action to foil Steve's warped plot. "So what do we do to Steve for this?" Mark asked. "We simply can't let him get away with this!" "You guys don't need to do anything," the agent replied, rising to his feet. "It's our responsibility at this point--and I assure you, he won't get off lightly!" "You mean you're gonna put him in jail or something?" Jeff queried. "No," the agent responded, "I'm afraid we're going to have to put him and his entire gang in a special juvenile detention center. Now that Steve knows about the Chronivac, he's certain to blab about it to the rest of his little group of thugs. Left to themselves, there's no telling what kind of harm they might do with a Chronivac if any of them ever get their hands on one again. So, we're gonna send them to a special center where, in effect, they'll be re-programmed. They'll receive the discipline they've always needed but never gotten, and they WILL be made to learn the difference between right and wrong--whether they like it or not! When they've learned to behave themselves, they'll be released--but not one instant sooner! Now, if you guys will excuse me, I need to get after these turkeys before they get into any further mischief!" With those words, the TransDem agent vanished.
By the time Jeff, Mark, Claire and the others got together again a few days later, the whole school was abuzz with the news about Steve and his posse being arrested and sent to a special correction center. Clair hung her head in humiliation as the others rightly chewed her out for her thoughtlessness. "We've got to be more careful," Jeff emphasized, "not only about how we use this thing, but also about who, if anybody, we discuss it with! Otherwise--well, the results could be disastrous for all of us--maybe even fatal!" That was enough to make Claire burst into tears. She had never even considered that possibility (neither had any of the others, for that matter!), and the implications of Jeff's words terrified her.
Jeff and the others calmed her down, and assured her she was forgiven. Jeff emphasized that fact by giving Claire a deep, warm kiss, which Claire was only too happy to return. "Now that THAT'S over," Mark piped up with a grin, as Claire snuggled up to Jeff, "I have an idea for our next use of the Chronivac--one that completely gets away from trying to teach anybody a lesson or anything like that!" He thereupon pointed out that Duran Duran would be in town on their reunion tour in just a few days. All of them were rabid fans of the group, and had already bought tickets to the concert. "Why not just use the Chronivac to modify our appearance to more of a "New Romantic" look--you know, hairstyles, clothing--even cosmetics?" "You mean at the concert, or at school?" Jeff asked. "I mean BOTH!" Mark replied emphatically. "Don't forget, we can use the Chronivac to arrange for the school dress code to be relaxed enough to allow that kind of look!" He grinned wickedly at the thought of being able to dress up like Nick Rhodes, including wearing makeup.
Jeff and the others also grinned as they considered the idea, which they all felt had considerable merit. "Just so we understand each other, bro'," he responded, "you're talking about all of us dressing like the guys did in their first video, 'Calling Planet Earth'?" "Right," Mark replied, nodding, "only more so! For example, we could have our outfits gradually get fancier and flashier and richer and frillier and sexier, until by the time of the concert we'd be out-dressing the band itself--even Nick Rhodes!"
The others howled with glee at such a thought. Then, Claire brought them all back to sobriety by pointing out that they would need to be sure to restore the school's dress code back to normal after Duran Duran left town, although they could certainly continue to dress up like the band outside of school hours. The others agreed, so Mark and Jeff set about the task of using the Chronivac to make the necessary changes and arrangements. By the time they were finished, the whole group was tingling with excitement at the prospects for the week ahead.